This invention relates to an alarm monitoring and alarm report broadcast system. More particularly, this invention relates to a system for centrally monitoring alarm or event reports from a plurality of remote locations and reporting particulars of the alarm to selected others of the monitored remote locations.
It is known to provide a central monitoring facility to monitor alarms at a plurality of remote locations. For example, it is common for security companies to monitor the residential or commercial security systems of customers so as to either dispatch security personnel or advise other appropriate authorities upon detection of an alarm. It is also known to provide communication means enabling a central monitoring facility to query an alarm system at a remote location to determine the alarm status. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,006 to Braxton.
It is also known to provide a broadcast system for enabling listeners to monitor only the kind of information of interest to the listener. An example of such system is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,574,999 to Gropper which describes a system for broadcasting, for example weather reports, which allow the listener to program a digital code into a receiver so that the receiver triggers only in response to specific digital codes broadcast on the monitored radio channel.
In the last few decades, neighborhood based vigilance programs have become common. Such programs encourage individuals within a neighborhood to report or investigate suspicious activity and to thereby enhance the collective security of the community.
Although the prior art approaches referred to above represent significant advancements in collective security systems, they are nonetheless subject to limitations. In the case of the central monitoring of remote alarms, there is necessarily a delay of several minutes or more before ambulance, security or law enforcement personnel reach the alarm location. In the case of neighborhood vigilance programs, an individual witnessing possibly suspicious activity may be reluctant to call in a false alarm, or may assume that someone else in the neighborhood has reported the incident.
The general object of this invention is to provide an improved security system which takes advantage of community involvement in security monitoring, alleviates the disadvantages of existing approaches, enhances the community""s ability to pool information regarding alarm conditions and allows concerned individuals other than the individual reporting the alarm to take corrective, protective or helpful action.
In one of its broad aspects, the invention comprises an alarm monitoring and reporting system wherein a central monitoring facility monitors a plurality of remote subscribers, receives alarm information from one of the subscribers and transmits to specific other subscribers a report of the alarm condition. This enables the recipients of the report to provide further information by providing their own follow-up report, to assess the relative risk presented by the alarm condition and to take protective or helpful action.
In another of its aspects, the invention comprises such a system wherein the subscribers who are to be advised of a given alarm are selected according to the nature of the alarm.
In a further aspect of the invention, the remote alarm locations are identified using GPS coordinates and the GPS coordinates of the alarm reporting location are used as a geographic reference point for determining which other locations are to receive a report of the alarm. Accordingly, those in the immediate vicinity will be able to provide follow up reports regarding the alarm condition, to assess the risk involved and take appropriate action.
In yet a further aspect, the invention comprises such a system which uses an address scheme comprising a component specifically identifying one remote location and a component identifying a group which includes a remote location. In a more specific aspect of the invention, the addressing scheme includes use of the TCP/IP protocol.
In another aspect, the invention comprises apparatus for use in such a system, said apparatus including means for initiating communication with a central monitoring facility and/or other apparatus, communication means for communicating to said central monitoring facility and/or other apparatus information reporting an alarm at the remote location associated with the apparatus, memory means for recording a unique address assigned to the apparatus by the central monitoring facility, transmission means for transmitting to the central monitoring facility and/or other apparatus the unique address and GPS coordinates associated with the apparatus, and alerting means to draw the attention of a subscriber associated with the apparatus.
Other aspects of the invention will be apparent from the claims and from the detailed description of the preferred embodiment.